Director: Paul Feig
What Is The Housemaid About?
The Housemaid is a psychological thriller that centers on a seemingly ordinary wealthy family whose lives unravel after they hire a new housemaid. As she becomes more deeply involved in the household, her behavior grows increasingly manipulative and unsettling, leading to a series of disturbing events that expose hidden desires, power imbalances, and moral weaknesses within the family.
My Personal Thoughts:
It was so refreshing to walk into a movie where it was receiving early hype, and it delivers! This type of movie niche, which happens to fall under the psychological thriller/erotic thriller category, used to be very popular years ago. We would see pretty big releases each year in this subgenre, but it started to fade out in the last couple of years. They finally brought back one with 2 household name actors, and my guess is The Housemaid will be solely responsible for bringing these types of films back into the theatre for years to come.
I have not seen the novel this movie is based on, but from what I’ve heard, it follows it pretty well. This is a classic film example where we are supposed to think one way, then the rug gets pulled out from under us, and we get thrown in a completely different direction. This type of writing is always a blast to follow as long as it does not do this too often to where it becomes annoying, and there is a decent balance here. The 2 key main actresses are Amanda Seyfried (Nina) and Sydney Sweeney (Millie), and Amanda completely steals the show. This is not to say Sydney Sweeney was bad in any way. For what her character needed to offer, she executed well above expectations. Amanda, however, was in a different league when it came to certain reactions and just going berserk with different emotions and filling the entire room with tension based on just her commentary. I don’t want to go without mentioning the awesome performance we got from Brandon Sklenar as Nina’s husband as well. Brandon is definitely a fast-rising star, and his overall performance will get the attention of many different studios, as I could see this propelling him into playing a character in the new DC universe that we’re now in.
There is a decent amount of suspense here, which always pays off with the many different directions they go. With a very simple story of Millie needing extra money and applying to be a housemaid for a well-to-do family, it turns into guessing who is actually the bad character, which one to believe, and what the real motives are within the story. This film balances being a comedy movie with more light-hearted moments, and then completely turns up the dial with the thriller moments, and I think it helps the pacing of the movie really well. In no moment did I ever feel like it was dragging on with boredom or that something more should be happening. The tension throughout felt like a sand timer hourglass where you turn it over, the tension takes off, and then slowly fizzles out, but only for a couple of minutes until you flip it back over and the tension is sky high again. This makes for a really enjoyable watching experience and can play with your emotions, and the film embodies this tone.
My only real complaint with the movie is with the number of twists and turns it relies on; there is some suspension of belief for certain actions towards the 3rd act. If you go into this movie with the right sense of mind, you should walk out satisfied. If you go into it wanting a masterpiece with no plot holes, I can see some areas where disappointment will follow, but that ultimately depends on your viewing experience and what you want to get out of the film.
Movie Stub Rating
Overall, this was a fun thrill ride that takes you in many different directions. I enjoyed the journey it took me on with the many different mystery moments that kept me guessing. Other than a couple of areas where you have let the “movie magic” do its job to allow certain things to make sense, I have no real complaints. If you’re looking for a solid date movie or an old school feel psychological thriller, you’ll enjoy this one.
